5 years and counting!

Brett and I have just celebrated our 5 year anniversary!! I have become such a wiser and more compassionate person since i've met Brett. I learn something from him everyday. He is one of the smartest people i know and i couldn't imagine being with anyone else. When i was in seventh grade i decided i wanted to go into forensic science. When i was a sophomore in high school i realized that this was an unrealistic goal if i wanted to continue to live in shelbyville. When i was a junior i started to get scared because i had no idea what i wanted to do with my life so i began to pray. Every day, every night, every time i got discouraged i prayed. I just wanted God to lead me in the right direction because i had no idea. It's amazing what can happen when you genuinely put everything in God's hands. My friend Maggie was going to hair school and i was always coloring my mom's hair and other friend's hair and i always enjoyed it. Especially when one of them wanted to get creative and do multiple colors... So things started falling in to place and Brett came along and swept me off my feet. I went to cosmetology school and he was at lake land and already taking pictures and making a living doing it! We finished school at the same time and we've been inseparable since.

To celebrate we decided to have a weekend in st. louis. We got a "top secret" room from travelocity and had a perfect view of the arch. when we arrived we went to the mall and yes i spent $5 on two chocolate covered strawberries at Godiva. They were de-lish! Then we went to the casino....



Never again. I really don't care if we ever go again. I lost $90. I could have bought ONE shirt at anthropologie! uh.... haha! So the next day we decided to go to the ZOO. It was such a beautiful day! It was overcast and about 75 degrees out. All of the animals were out and about it was wonderful!




These gorillas were so funny! I don't think i've ever been this close to the gorillas while they are outside. This one that Brett is knelt down by actually snagged a bee out of the air and ate it! then he stuck his lip out and it was stinging him! He kept petting his lip and trying to look at it! haha. Then on to the orangutans! (looks like a spelling error but i googled it. haha) We walked around the corner and.....



They give them blankets in the zoo but they said in the wild they would use huge leaves as blankets. He was so cute! I don't usually take zoo pictures because everyone does that but we were so close to them!






Then we went and walked through the penguin house. It was freezing in there! The penguins were cute as usual and they were swimming so close to the glass i wanted to touch one on the back so bad but there were people watching :( but when we got to the puffins they were getting fed so they were jumping of the ledges and diving into the water! Brett and i were getting splashed by them! When we got back outside there was a woman feeding the ones outside!



I'd say it was a successful day at the zoo! In april Brett and i will have to start our count back at one! Brett is so good to me! We are taking off to go to Mexico! you can read all about that here: http://www.brettjarnagin.com

Teeny Tiny Princess

WOW! Two blogs in a row! this might be a record! I have been helping Brett a lot with weddings and this last weekend we had to go to Alto Pass. It's just a little south of Carbondale. I got home from the long weekend and Lea was very happy to see me. This morning we were playing and I was just so lucky to capture her new "thing". Instead of explaining i'll just show you....








She makes this face if she is surprised or when you do it to her she will do it back. She is 15 months old now and can practically run everywhere. She hardly ever crawls unless she wants to get underneath something. I can't even remember what i ever did without her. She's so funny and beyond adorable! Her hair is super wild because she had a ponytail in it when her hair was wet. Haha!



Yes she has zebra leggings on with her teeny tiny princess shirt haha!

A huge step in wedding planning

So my life has been consumed with wedding things. I have been extremely stressed because the first time i went wedding dress shopping i didn't find exactly what i wanted so i got discouraged. We didn't have a reception place and without that i can't book anything else. I think i told you about the barn i wanted to book in Monticello but i got turned down for that so i had to move on. My friend maggie and my mom had suggested the Chautauqua building in the park in Shelbyville.





It's enormous and has a lot of character. It's not used for much anymore but we are about to change that. It's eventually going to be restored but all we have to do is make a donation to the committee and we're in!!! It has a huge stage with lights around the front and a huge arched frame that has lights facing the audience! We will have our head table on the stage and the dance floor on a concrete pad that is directly in front of the stage. At this point in time we have about 330 people on our guest list but I just read that the Chautauqua can hold up to 5,000! That's insane! That is every person in shelbyville! haha. I'm super excited that we have a place now.

The dress....
So i have this dress that i feel in love with... i shared it in an earlier post but here it is again..



It's a designer dress so it's very very very expensive. I had considered buying it anyway but tried one more time on the weddingbee.com to see if anyone had a used one. For half the price i'd wear this dress if it had only been worn once. So someone sent me a message and said, "check out this website." So i was at work and went to it. It is a company out of China that replicates designer dresses. So i'm just clicking through the pages quickly and on the 5th page is THE DRESS. Yes, the Dress! So i am in shock and i click on it to find a price. $400. Then i almost fell over! So i had my measurements taken and sent in my order! They said it would take about 7 weeks to make so we'll see! I'll keep you posted on it's arrival!

Mother's Day Cookout

Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful mother's!! To celebrate we had a cookout at my grandma's house yesterday. We had "backyard BBQ chicken patties", hot dogs, grilled and seasoned onion, potato salad, pistachio salad (not a fan), and raspberry tea. The weather was lovely and the company was even better. When we arrived we noticed a mannequin body by the pool. My grandma likes mannequin's but doesn't usually bring them out to set by the pool. It was her mother's day gift from my Aunt and Uncle. So we decided to take pictures by it!





That is my sister on the left and my mom on the right.


We played around with it for a while and laughed and then took some other pictures.





We also brought baby Lea. She is a wiggle worm! She can't sit still for more than a couple minutes. She always wants to crawl around, and then she gets dirty. haha. She has learned how to climb stairs :/






I had her out taking pictures of some headbands i made so i decided to leave this one on her. Surprisingly she left it on. These pictures only get better i promise.....









Haha she cracks me up! She's 13 months old now and her personality is starting to show. She is the greatest thing. I am going to use that last picture for my Etsy page. Haha.

So we played around, cooked s'mores, and Brett took us on a ride in his new Lincoln MKX. He's pretty excited!

My mom has been my best friend for 21 years. She is funny, funky, loving, caring, and beautiful. She would do anything for me and i would do anything for her. She has always been there to guide me and shape me into the person i am today. I'm so thankful she's my mom and my best friend.


My little sister is also a mother. This was her first mothers day!!! She has done such a wonderful job with lea. Not only does she have to keep her grades up in school but then come home and take care of a baby the rest of the night, and then get up early to get her ready to go. She is doing a fantastic job and i only expect her to get better!

Off to find the Dress of my Dreams

Before i get started i guess i should just tell you about the title of this post. I was trying to make it all punctually correct and then i remembered this is my little blog world i can do whatever i want. haha. I even type "i" in lowercase, unless its at the beginning of the sentence . In the title i decided i like to capitalized important words. So i did. So I'm not crazy i just do what comes to me...
So here we go...

I have been engaged for almost 3 months and have not been dress shopping. I may be crazy but it just seems like one thing after another comes up and i have to make sure that my mom and i can at least get our schedules to line up to go, and we did. Tomorrow is the day to find my dream dress.. Well i have already found it but it is expensive and has to be ordered. So at this point in time it is a last resort. I have a dress in mind. I don't want to release it quite yet though. We are going to St. louis and i have an appointment at three different bridal shops. I am getting very excited. I don't think it's going to hit me until i put on a dress and walk out to show my mom. I can't wait though!


In honor of creative weddings!










I just hope that tomorrow i can go with an open mind and not compare everything to the dress that i love. I really hope i can find the dress of my dreams...

Happy 1st Birthday baby Lea

Saturday afternoon we had the cutest birthday for my niece Lea. She turned 1 and i can't believe it! A year ago my 16 year old sister was in labor. That is something I never want to go through again. haha. She was so tiny but very mighty. She was dilated to an 8 when they told her she had to decide right that moment weather she'd have an epidural and she said no. Yes my 16 year old sister had a natural birth. Anyway... haha She had a beautiful baby girl named Lea Grace Davis. She is the most beautiful thing i have ever seen...





I went around our house and picked all the fresh flowers i could find around our house to put on the tables.






We had an angel food cake and mini cupcakes for everyone to eat.







My mom and Corrie made her a huge cupcake to have all to herself! She was slow getting started but she ultimately destroyed it. She had a blast!











Corrie also got her a bubble maker. That was an event in itself! My grandma filled it up too full and there were thousands of bubbles coming out every second. Lea sat right in front of it and just laughed the whole time.




It seems crazy that my little sister already has a baby, and it is but she has done so good with her. Better than anyone could have expected. She is doing so well considering she's juggling school, being social, and being a mom. Being in high school is hard enough sometimes. I just can't remember what i ever did without Lea. She is such a blessing in disguise.

Happy birthday to my very best friend!

Here again, Gone again!

I have decided that this is the biggest year of my life. Well there was really no question but it is. I've been to Hawaii and Italy. Those are two places that some people will never have the opportunity to visit. I have been feeling so blessed lately. So as soon as I've got all my clients caught up at work Brett comes up with a brilliant plan.... He decides that he wants to take me, his mom, and his little sister to the Smokey Mountains. Brett and I went last year in January and stayed in a cabin. That was our first surprise vacation. Brett has been wanting to go back and decided this would be the time. We thought it would be perfect timing because Lexi has spring break and Lila would have a few days off of work. And then i realized, the day Brett booked the cabin, that I am going to a hair show that weekend. I was crushed! Just crushed.... I can't just skip either, I have spent about $400 so far on classes, admission and hotel. I am also going with my friend Maggie and we've so been looking forward to this. So I told Brett I couldn't go and you would have thought his dog died! He was so upset! I was as well but my mother is the goddess of all good ideas and she said, "Just fly there." So i thought that was ridiculous and I told Brett what she had said. He got online and found out it was only $100 to fly from Chicago to Tennessee! So i said Why not?! I first called Maggie to make sure it was alright that she drive me to the airport and if it were alright to drive home alone. She was fine with it, then she started getting nervous. haha We both know she'll do fine. The last time Brett and i went to the Smokey Mountains we had an interesting time with all the snow but we're hoping this time it is sunny and warm! It seems like we're always gone and yes, this year is an exception but Brett can't go anywhere during the summer, or fall for that matter. So we have to do all of our vacations when no one else is able to.

Here are some pictures that we took the last time we were there.










I can't wait to spend time with Brett and his family!

Typewriter key bracelets

Yes we've been making them for about three months now but I've been super busy!
Here's how it started:

My dad bought me, my sister, and my mom a bracelet made of typewriter keys a few years ago. We wear them all the time and we have a lot of compliments on them. Around Christmas my mom said there was a lady that she worked with that wanted one of the typewriter key bracelets. So she said, "why don't you just start making them?" Well it was close to Christmas and it takes a lot of investing before you can make any money off of it. This is how it works.. Most places sell sets of typewriter keys that have been cut off the typewriter. So if someone wants a personalized bracelet that says "Abbie" Which has two "B's" in it we would have to end up buying another set as well to accommodate. A set of typewriter keys is NOT cheap! So we decided to go into it together. We decided to start off by buying a few sets of keys and the bracelets that they have to be attached to. We also had to buy some whited sets and some black sets. We did this because we like the look of the alternate keys. When we received our first set this is what we were looking at....











Yes these had a 6 inch stub on them!!! So then we had to buy a Dremel tool to saw off the nubs! So we have a Dremel tool and my dad was showing us how to use it. Sparks were flying and we were jumping back away from it. haha So we looked at each other thinking, how are we going to do this. So my mom put on some gloves and went outside to start sawing! So she had to saw them down so the backs were completely flat. We also decided that if we made the bracelets textured they keys would stick better to them. So here is what we came up with...






We already had some custom orders so we got started on those and here are some of the finished products!








We are still taking custom orders or you can check them out at http://www.caseydavis.etsy.com

Ready to begin the planning...

I have so many things i need to blog about but all the pictures i had ready to add to my blogs are on the computer that Brett took to Vegas....

Brett and I have not picked a date for our wedding yet. This is mainly because we have a lot of schedules to work around. We both want to get married in September but we're not sure if we'll be able to. Brett is very busy with weddings this summer and we have a few other people to ask and get their schedules. So with all of this going on we are thinking we may have to wait until next April :(
None the less I can't WAIT to start planning. BUT it all depends on the date... I have two different styles depending on when we have it...

September...












That wedding came from Green Wedding Shoes Blog

If it has to be in April I'm either thinking pastels or peacock feathers and pinks and greens! But i guess i could still go with what I have my heart stuck on. The wedding above...It's just perfect. I just love the details. I'm probably going to end up spending so much money just so I can have my wedding so cute down to every little detail. oh well. It only happens once. I want it to be great. Plus Brett and I have already been on two vacations this year. already. haha. We do want to go on a honeymoon so... I'm not sure.

When the time does come, whenever that may be, i just can't wait to have all of my loved ones around. As long as memories are being made it will be great.

One thing I know will be happening is a "photo booth" not necessarily the one you sit in and have your picture taken and a picture strip comes out. Although I do love those, they are expensive!

But something along these lines.....





There will be some type of area where the quests can do silly things and there will either be a person with the camera taking pictures or the guests will have a button to press that makes the camera take the picture. I think it will be so much fun.


And two of my friends are really pushing for me to get a short dress.... which I had never really thought about until i saw THIS....




It's the cutest thing I've ever seen! I'm not sure if I could pull it off BUT I still love it!!!